10) Carlos Martinez RHP STL: Carlos Martinez has become one of the top pitchers in the National League pretty quickly. Over the last two years, Carlos Martinez has really come into his own for the Cardinals, making him the undisputed ace of that staff and capable of going toe-to-toe with the best the league has to offer. The Cardinals have a special young pitcher on their hands.
9) Jon Lester LHP CHC: Not that Jon Lester was ever bad, but he's seen his career hit a second wind in the Windy City. His two seasons with the Cubs so far have been well worth the hefty investment for the Cubs, and he quite possibly had the best year of his career for the Cubs in 2016, being a massive reason the team brought a World Series trophy back to Chicago.
8) Stephen Strasburg RHP WSH: The Nationals operate a staff with two aces, and Strasburg is undoubtedly one of them. When healthy, he is amongst the very best in the entire league, but the issue is he has not been healthy enough to earn a spot in the top 4-5 of this list, even though the talent is certainly there.
7) Johnny Cueto RHP SF: Cueto has been amongst the most consistently great pitchers in the NL with the Reds and Giants. His track record of success and the fact he is still going very strong was too inviting to leave off this list.
6) Max Scherzer RHP WSH: Scherzer is the other Nationals ace and is the better and more durable one, in my opinion. The former Cy Young award winner has earned all the respect in the world in both the AL and NL. He's been very durable, as I said, and continues to put up strong season after strong season in the MLB and stands a good chance of doing something great each time he steps foot on the rubber.
5) Jake Arrieta RHP CHC: If you had asked me last year where Arrieta stands, I would have put him 2nd or 3rd based on the historic run he was on. However, he took a minor step back in 2016, but he was still a very good pitcher. He certainly returned to earth though as others surpassed him in this list.
4) Noah Syndergaard RHP NYM: Noah Syndergaard, nicknamed Thor, has electric stuff and all the capabilities you could ever want in a pitcher. He throws hard with nastiness galore. However, his track record isn't as long-standing as the three guys above him, and that's why he's only at number four, even though I think he will be the top or at worst the second best pitcher in the NL very soon.
3) Madison Bumgarner LHP SF:
We all know the lore of Madison Bumgarner. He just flat out dominates, especially when the playoffs come calling. Good luck generating any sort of offense against this elite lefty.
2) Jacob deGrom RHP NYM:
Jacob just pure deGrominates (that's a pun), and while many believe Syndergaard is the ace of the Mets, I think deGrom is the actual ace and deserves more recognition than he gets. He's been more silently doing insanely impressive things on the mound the last few years and needs acknowledged more for just how impressive he really is.
1) Clayton Kershaw: LHP LAD: Was there ever any doubt that Kershaw would be the best on this list? He's not just the best right now, but he has a good shot at being the best this generation has ever had. He's one of those talents in baseball that comes maybe once or twice in an entire lifetime. So, when we watch Kershaw pitch, we need to appreciate that we are watching not just the best pitcher in the league now, but potentially a top 5 or 10 pitcher of all-time.
Again, this list is purely my own and you are free to disagree if you like because we don't all share the same opinions. I based this on factors I thought were the most vital, but some might have differing opinions on things like this, and that is okay. Anyway, I will have a list of top 10 AL pitchers coming soon, so stay tuned for that.
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